Fall 2011

Earth, Wind - and Food

Features

A Fine Thin Skin—wind, water, volcanoes, and ice :: Different as they seem, the soils of Eastern and Western Washington have one thing in common. They come—either by water, wind, or ice—generally from elsewhere. And what takes eons to form can be covered over or erode away in a geologic
heartbeat. by Tim Steury

Above & Beyond :: In the spring of 1792, George Vancouver praised “the delightful serenity of the weather.” A few years later, William Clark complained of a dour winter that was “cloudy, dark and disagreeable.” How right they both were. Weather patterns determined by mountains and ocean grant the Pacific Northwest a temperate climate that also has a dark and unpredictable side. by Hannelore Sudermann

Billions Served :: Seven billion people will soon become nine billion before the global population levels off. Can so many people be fed from a finite Earth? Yes, they can, say WSU researchers. But the solutions will necessarily be many. by Eric Sorensen

Running with the Pac-12—A conversation with Bill Moos

This summer, Washington State University and the other nine schools
in the Pac-10 conference expanded to the Pac-12, welcoming the
University of Colorado and the University of Utah. WSU Athletic
Director Bill Moos has been part of the changing conference for
decades: as a football player at WSU in the Pac-8, as an associate
athletic director and athletic director in the Pac-10, and now back at
WSU for the Pac-12. The conference also gained the most lucrative
television deal in the history of college sports, worth up to $20
million a year for WSU, which splits conference games between ESPN and
Fox.

Larry Clark of Washington State Magazine sat down with Moos
for a discussion on what it means for WSU to be part of the Pac-12
conference, the television deal, and his vision for WSU’s athletic
programs and facilities.

What does the expansion of the conference mean for WSU and its athletics programs?

I really feel that the conference expansion was a positive move, not
just for the conference, but for the member institutions. Colorado and
Utah fit the profile of the other ten institutions, in that they are
major research institutions with doctorate programs that are really a
prerequisite for any institution to be in our conference.

That’s why we can hold our heads high and have our chests out,
because we truly are both an academic and athletic conference. We’ve had
remarkable accomplishments in both areas.

Speaking of academics, the NCAA academic progress rate (APR)
report came out last May, and WSU athletes met or exceeded all the
benchmarks.

I think it illustrates the importance we place on the academic
component of being a student-athlete at Washington State. Our young
people are here to get an education, obtain a degree, and compete in
what I believe is the finest conference in the country.

When we see the results in any of our academic areas, such as the
APR, it’s a source of pride not just for me, but should be for Cougars
everywhere.

How will the conference’s new television contract help WSU athletics?

I’m very pleased that my peers and I were able to hammer out a
revenue-sharing formula that provides equal shares of that television
money to all 12 institutions. That’s extremely important for us here at
Washington State as we’ll be able to see our budget grow and hopefully
we can compete better with the 11 other schools.

I also want to emphasize the value of the [national] exposure.
Literally every football and men’s basketball game will be televised
live, and for Washington State, it’s very important to be seen
nationwide to showcase our wonderful university. For those prospective
student-athletes to be watching our players, our teams, our campus, you
can’t really put a price tag on that.

When it’s all said and done that might be the biggest boost that Cougar athletics has ever had.

We will invest a lot of the resources into facilities. We’re lagging
way behind in that area, and facilities are the primary focus of
today’s young recruits. We’ve got some catching up to do there.

Upon my arrival I wanted to address the proposed stadium expansion
and also prioritize the need for a football operations building to house
our football program, feeling that was more important than the
renovation and expansion of Martin Stadium.

As it turned out, it made sense to do both projects at the same time and really make them fold into one building.

We have a great many investors in the Martin Stadium project who
were hanging tight to see where we were going to go with this. We
wanted to make sure they got what they had been promised, but in a
different location as we changed the stadium plan from the north side
to the south side.

What’s the proposed timeline for the facilities expansion?

We’ve moved ahead quite quickly, having visited six different
campuses to look at similar facilities. The design team took over 6,000
photographs and volumes of notes, and we were able to sit down and
cherry pick the best features of each of those facilities. I like that
it will look like one complete building and complement the existing
facility, and I think aesthetically blends in with the rest of campus.

Hopefully we can get started immediately after the last game of the
2011 season, and have fans in the new seats and new suites for the 2012
season, which by coincidence is the 40th anniversary of Martin
Stadium.

We want to take advantage of construction costs now, and again we
have recruiting classes coming in to see what we’re all about. As soon
as we have shovels in the ground and steel going up, they’ll know that
we mean business when we talk about improving our facilities.

How do you feel about the Pac-12’s structure?

I like the way the conference is divided. The NCAA allows a
conference that has 12 or more institutions to conduct a conference
championship game, which will be very exciting and another revenue
stream for all 12 of the schools.

I was adamant in protecting the Northwest rivalries. We’ve been
playing each other for over a hundred years and we were able to assure
that would continue. Then we added Stanford and Cal to the four
Northwest schools. That gives us a good, competitive division that’s
easily accessible to the fans and should provide a lot of fun.

What’s your vision for Cougar athletics over the next two or three years?

We’ll see far more competitive sports programs. We’ll be solvent and
have reserves in place so that we can create the stability necessary
so we can be successful.

I’ve been known in my career as an athletic director who puts a lot
of focus on facilities and marketing. When those are clicking just
right, the fundraising improves, morale improves, attendance improves,
and our ability to serve as ambassadors for the university improves
as well.